2016 Coaches' Letter 1 dated 11/7/16

Welcome to another wrestling season and the 56th consecutive annual Brecksville Invitational Holiday Tournament (BIHT). This year's tournament will again prove to be an exciting event. The same great features that made our tournament a success in past years will again be available this year. A list of these "2016 Tournament Features" is attached. The first day of competition will be continuous in two adjacent gyms on 9 mats. The competition on the second day will be on 6 mats in the main gym only while the finals for places 1 thru 6 will be on 3 mats. We utilize two active referees (three total) during the Championship Quarter-Final matches, during the Championship Semi-Finals, the Finals, and all placement matches.

Again, what we are really excited about this year is our field of excellent participating teams and wrestlers. Our field of 48 teams this year is one less than last year's record of 49 teams and again will prove to be highly competitive. We welcome 8 new teams this year. Four are making their debut in this event—Alliance, Fairfield, Midview, and Lowell, MI. Four are returning, having competed in the past---Columbus St. Francis DeSales, Hilliard Davidson, Shadyside, and Woodridge. The entire list of "2016 Teams Entered" document is attached. Please review this document for accuracy. If there are any coaching changes that we have missed, or if we have listed your school incorrectly by your State wrestling division, or any misspellings, please e-mail Tournament Director Nick Dimitris with the corrections.

For your planning purposes the "2016 Tournament Wrestling Schedule" document is attached. We have moved the start of the Finals one hour earlier to 5:30 PM so that we may finish earlier. Please note that weigh-ins preceded by skin checks will be at 8 AM on both days. Open scales for weight checks will occur at 7 – 8 AM on both days. The weigh-in procedure document will be sent later. Documents of "2016 List of Area Restaurants" and "2016 Map Restaurants-Host Hotel-School" are also attached FYI.

***We would like to point out an important feature. For the thirteenth year we have identified a HOST HOTEL for our out-of-town teams and guests. Our host facility will again be the Holiday Inn Cleveland South-Independence, OH (see their enclosed literature, 5 sheets) at I-77 Exit 155 Rockside Rd., right in the heart of where a majority of the restaurants and other services are located, and a short distance from our high school. They have set aside a block of rooms at a rate of $73 per night. There are plenty of rooms for all and we negotiated an extremely reasonable rate for a 5-star hotel. Additionally, the reason they deserve your consideration is that they are again providing complimentary rooms for our out of town referees. As you know we try and employ officials from throughout Ohio. Please call Maureen Labyk at the Holiday Inn at 216-524-8050, ext. 191 and state that you are participating in the Brecksville Holiday Wrestling Tournament to secure your reservation at the special rate. If your school/group is tax exempt from Ohio State sales tax, please complete the tax exempt form and discuss that with Maureen. Also, please encourage parents, relatives, and friends to book their rooms at our host hotel at the $73 rate. ***

We are again looking forward with great anticipation to this year's tournament, our 56th, and welcome everyone's participation in 2016. Good luck in the upcoming season. There will be additional future communications to the coaches that will deal with the specifics of this season's tournament including: schedules, weigh-ins, coaches' meeting, returning state qualifiers/placers, and biographical information about your wrestlers we will need for our tournament Program Book. As we look ahead, roster registration/seeding will again be done on-line via TrackWrestling this year. More info to follow.

Please visit our school's wrestling web site at, www.brecksvillewrestling.com. There is a pick for the Holiday Tournament with sub-picks. The documents that are enclosed herein and all future documents will be listed on our web site as they are updated for this year's tournament.